LUNTRAKTORs

Broken Folk

Lunatraktors — Body & Voice Primal and contemporary, mournful and joyously deranged, Lunatraktors are ‘simply different’ (RTÉ Lyric, IE). Reimagining songs from the 1500s to the present, Lunatraktors strip Anglo-Celtic traditionals back to the bare bones of vocal harmony and percussive dance. From there, they expand out into weird, playful spaces with their full stage setup — eclectic acoustic beats, bass accordion, whistles and deep analogue synth baselines. Whether performing with instruments, or a cappella with voices, hands and feet, the heart of Lunatraktors is somatic sound — sonic expression rooted in the body and voice.

Lunatraktors were founded in 2017 by body percussionist and choreographer Carli Jefferson (she/her), and researcher and overtone singer Dr Clair Le Couteur (they/ them). The project started with a question: What’s left when we’ve lost everything? What remains when the technology fails, when our possessions are gone, when we are displaced from our homelands, when the festival lights go out? We believe that the most precious treasures are our bodies, our voices, and the things we’ve learned by heart — especially our folk traditions and cultural heritage. That is what makes contemporary folk music, dance and storytelling so vital, and the current 21st century folk revival so essential.

Alongside composing and performing award-winning folk music, Lunatraktors share somatic sound experiences with the public through bespoke commissions, events and workshops. Previous venues and partners include Body & Soul Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Cecil Sharp House, the Royal College of Art, the British Museum, the V&A, the British Textile Biennial, Compton Verney, Limerick City Gallery, Waterford Gallery, Creative Ireland, and Musée Denys-Puech.